On the Occasion of His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas’s Silver Jubilee
By Dr. Sebastian Brock
First of all, let me say how grateful, and at the same time delighted, I am to have this opportunity to write a short piece for the occasion of His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I `Iwas’s Jubilee, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his enthronement on the venerable See of Antioch. As the 122 nd Patriarch of Antioch, he is one of only fifteen who have held the patriarchal office for an entire quarter of a century. His two immediate predecessors, Mor Ignatius Aphrem Barsaum and Mor Ignatius Ya`qub III, were patriarchs for, respectively, 24 years and 23 years. All three have lived through times of momentous change which have required great wisdom on the part of leaders of all the Church leaders; without any doubt one can say that all three patriarchs, each in his own special way, has shown great wisdom in guiding the Syrian Orthodox Church through these turbulent times. His Holiness is, of course, linked to his two predecessors in a special way, having been personal patriarchal synkellos to Mor Aphrem Barsaum, and having been ordained priest by Patriarch Mor Ya`qub III.
My own friendship with His Holiness goes back over thirty years: I well remember his warm hospitality to my wife Helen and myself when we visited him in Baghdad, in 1972, when he was Metropolitan of Baghdad and Bosra; a few years later, when he was on a visit to England, we were able to welcome him to our house in Oxford. After he became Patriarch I have visited him in Damascus on a number of occasions, and on one of these, when I was visiting him in connection with the production of the documentary entitled The Hidden Pearl, I was immensely honoured when - to my great surprise - he awarded me the Nisho, or Medal, of St Ephrem. For me this was a very special occasion, which will always be treasured in my memory. It has always been my great desire to bring together the academic study of Syriac in universities with the living tradition of the Syriac Churches, since for all too long they had been living completely separate existences. In many ways this occasion symbolised an important step towards the fulfilment of this wish. How His Holiness has made possible many further steps towards bring these two closer together, I shall come back to shortly.
As I see it, one of the main challenges with which the Syrian Orthodox Church has been faced in the last fifty or so years is the large-scale emigration from the countries of the Middle East and the growth of large Syrian Orthodox diasporas in Europe, the Americas and Australia. This has posed all sorts of new problems, but also new opportunities. Like the late Pope John Paul II, His Holiness has been a tireless traveler, visiting his flock, not only in these three continents, but also the much longer established Syrian Orthodox community in India, where he first went to consecrate the Myron in 1982.
A much shorter journey, of great historic significance, was made in 2000, to Antakya in Turkey, ancient Antioch, where His Holiness was the first Syrian Orthodox Patriarch to celebrate the Holy Mysteries there for well over a thousand years.
In view of the growth of Syrian Orthodox communities in different parts of the world, especially in western countries, the need for good theological education, above all for the clergy, has become all the more urgent. His Holiness has clearly shown that he is well aware of this, both by founding the Seminary of St Ephrem at Ma`arrat Saidnaya (opened in 1996), and by his sending promising theological students to study in western universities. This has been especially fruitful, since it has given the opportunity for students of other backgrounds to get to know these Syrian Orthodox students, and to learn at first hand about their Church. Certainly it has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my teaching in Oxford University over the last thirty years that I have had a number of excellent students from the Syrian Orthodox Church and from other Churches of Syriac tradition, coming from the diaspora in Europe, from the Middle East, and from Kerala. It is a source of particular pride for me that one of these students is now Metropolitan of Mardin.
One of the positive aspects of the large-scale emigration of Syrian Orthodox to western countries has been the growth of a better awareness of the Syrian Orthodox Church and of the riches of its tradition by Christians in other Christian Churches, thanks to the presence of Syrian Orthodox among them. In this connection the founding of Syrian Orthodox monasteries in Holland, Switzerland and Germany, seems to me to be of especial significance: not only do they serve as invaluable spiritual focuses for the Syrian Orthodox communities in these countries, but they also provide Christians from other Churches with a physical witness of the Syriac monastic tradition in their very midst. This of course gives a new urgency in the context of ecumenical relations. Here, too, His Holiness has shown himself to have been very active in promoting ecumenical dialogue. Already in 1962/3 he had been an Observer at the Second Vatican Council, and in the early 1970s he was a participant in several of the meetings of the Non-Official Oriental Orthodox/Catholic theological dialogue, arranged by the Pro Oriente Foundation in Vienna, founded by the later Cardinal König. Particularly momentous was his meeting with Pope John Paul II in 1984, resulting in their joint theological declaration. Another event of great significance, as far as the Middle East is concerned, was the joint accord with the Rum Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch* in 1991.
For several of the meetings of Pro Oriente’s ‘Syriac Dialogue’, involving all the different Churches of Syriac tradition, His Holiness sent a special message, along with his Apostolic Blessings. Having been present myself, as an academic adviser, at several of these meetings, I take the opportunity to quote from His Holiness’s message to the Second Syriac Dialogue, held in 1996:
We are looking forward to harvesting results; due to the recent developments that affected the relations between the Ancient Assyrian Church of the East and the rest of the Churches especially after the Common Christological Declaration signed by the Assyrian Church and the Roman Catholic Church [in November 1994] which opened the door for more dialogue and serious studies on the part of all Syrian Churches worldwide.
One of the achievements of theological dialogue has been to clear away some of the traditional misunderstandings concerning the Christology of the Church of the East, and in 1998 bilateral theological dialogue between the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Church of the East was on the agenda, but unfortunately this has, for the moment, not materialized. Another area where relations had historically been antagonistic is between the Syrian Orthodox and the Syriac Catholic Church, but in 1999 His Holiness brought about the first steps towards a rapprochement when he personally met with the Syrian Catholic Patriarch Moussa I Daoud, on the occasion of the first Joint Episcopal Meeting of the two Churches, at Sharfeh in Lebanon.
It is a fitting tribute to His Holiness’s concern for good ecumenical relations that, in 1998, he was elected a President of the World Council of Churches.
May I conclude by expressing my great appreciation, not only for all that His Holiness has achieved in this past quarter century, but also for his personal friendship and kindness over the years; and may I join his flock worldwide in wishing him shnayo sagi’otho!
Dr. Brock is a Professor of Syriac, Aramaic, and Hebrew Studies in the Oriental Institute and in Wolfson College of the University of Oxford.Source: //www.socdigest.org
